WHATS RIGHT WITH HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS‏

by Tony Sutphin

I made the trip to Mt Tabor to watch the State Playoff Basketball game against Page because I knew the atmosphere and game would be worth it.

The gym was packed and Mt Tabor had a little too much for Page whom played well and had a great season – my good friend Brandon Clifford is the asst coach for Page and he is such a great person and coach, I just love the fact that he is out there helping those kids, and that and the game made me think about what is right with high school sports.

High school sports should be played with emotion like it was tonite at Mt Tabor, sometimes coaches get in a players face and tell them to not play scared or man up, or whatever he deems necessary to get the athlete to perform, to get him pumped up, to get him to achieve things he may not think are possible. Then a player makes a great play and everyone goes crazy, it is so exciting for someone competitive like myself – it just gives you a great feeling inside – athletes and coaches know the feeling.

Sometimes in the process a coach may even curse because it is an exciting emotional time – you don’t have to agree with it, but it is okay and it will not harm you or anyone else that may hear it – it is the parents job to teach kids right and wrong and if they hear it, tell them it is a bad word – period it will not harm little Johnny – believe me elementary school kids are cursing in school, teach them how to deal with it, dont complain about a coach who is actually helping and teaching your child how to be a man and in the process through sports – you will have a lifetime of stories to tell and maybe even a college scholarship to continue to play the game you love.

Tonite – I heard some players curse, some coaches scream, some coaches curse (right next to my 13 yr old daughter), a student section that heckled and made fun of everything associated with Page – players cheeleaders, etc – yet no athletic director or principal stared them down or shook fingers at them – they were tasteful, having fun and supporting their school – something competitive successful sports programs inspires – it makes the community so proud. Typically at Grimsley-Page events you can witness principals and athletic directors ready to pounce on any student that may get out of hand – well there were no fights tonite – if anything the taunting and rowdy student section made the Page team play harder and want to win even more – all of this in my opinion helps these kids grow up and helps them deal with life. One day these kids will have bosses or other coaches whom are unreasonable, they may curse and scream and you may have to learn to deal with it.

Last fall Grimsley fired myself and Head Coach Alan Ash from the Grimsley baseball team – one of the many baseless reasons was that “they wanted what was best for the kids” – well in four years at Grimsley one player quit, in two weeks with a new coach that is best for the kids – Grimsley has had at least three players quit, and one transfer to another school. The three players that quit may or may not play after high school – but they missed out playing some more, and that is not right. It is not right that Alan is not helping kids when he knows so much about the game. He would coach and help kids for nothing, thats what he does. He may be hard on kids, he may get in someones face, he may have embarrassed your son or my son at one time or another – but odds are that player would still love Al the next day.

I know I am rambling around – but I am not a professional writer – but to be involved in the game like this whether you are on the winning end or the losing end – these players and coaches will talk about it forever. Similar to one of the best baseball games I was involved in – two years ago Grimsley was at West Forsyth for the 2nd round of the state playoffs – West Forsyth had 5 or 6 D1 players in the lineup and we had one – Clint Moore and he was pitching – I think every player involved with that game has a memory they have talked about – whether it was Gabe Dimock throwing out their leadoff hitter who was stealing in the first inning – he had some type of stolen base record and Gabe hosed him with my freshman son covering the bag – I was scared to death he would drop Gabes perfect throw but he popped up and threw it around like he had done 100’s of times playing travel ball all over the country – maybe all my yelling and coaching him at a young age was helping him handle these situations. Whether it was Clint Moore not letting Coach Ash consider taking him out even though he was over 120 pitches – Clint wanted to win this game for his team, his family and friends. Whether it was Greg Holt of West Forsyth who looked like he had hit a walkoff homer to steal the game for West – but the ball fell just short of going out and Alan Craven caught it and threw to first for a game ending double play. I felt like Jim Valvano when he won the National Championship looking for someone to hug. As good as I had felt for us winning, I felt bad for Greg and his parents – it was hard to take – but I bet it helped Greg become more of a man – Greg is doing pretty well – as he plays college baseball for the best college team in the world – UNC. And I would bet that even Greg tells a story or two about that game.

High school sports are about these memories – not everyone can play equally – I think high school sports is for players that want to play at the next level – but it seems lately that we are trying to make high school sports about players that will not play at the next level. My two cents is that your high school should try and win and make some memories win or lose, not please parents that really only care who is playing. My wife went to a meeting today for my daughters middle school softball team and some parents were asking questions about whether everyone gets equal playing time and winning is not important, they all should play equally. If this is your belief that is fine and there are places you can play such as rec ball, upward programs, etc – but school sports should be about winning and developing. One of the best things about high school sports is when that player that doesnt get to play all year gets a chance and does well – the whole team and crowd go crazy – boom another instant memory and story for him to tell.

36 thoughts on “WHATS RIGHT WITH HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS‏

  1. Yesterday, I also had the opportunity to go to Mt. Tabor to see the Page-Mt. Tabor game. Talk about a home court advantage. As a Page Pirate, I will say that the Spartans’ 6th Man (Student Section) was phenomenal. I have not seen a school with so much school spirit. As you mentioned, no one was harassing Tabor’s student body for their actions. They may have taunted or talked a little trash but I’m all for school spirit and home court advantage. At Page, the administration is always harassing someone if they feel that our student body is too loud. As a matter of fact, when the Pirate Band is present, we cannot play Go-Go or Murder, two of our songs that gets the crowd alive. The administration believes the songs may “start a riot.” Also, there were no altercations at Mt. Tabor and the 6th Man was wild. I am all for school spirit and I believe that the administration should let the students be as long they are not harming others. We are only in high school for 4 years so let us live. It would be great every school had a 6th Man like the Spartans of Mount Tabor.

    GREAT SEASON PIRATES!!!!
    PIRATE PRIDE!!!!!!!

  2. Blah, Blah, Blah. I am so sick and tired of hearing about Allan and Grimsley. He got fired move on to something else. That is all this site has become when we talk about baseball. It turns into a pity party for poor Allan.

  3. Dear Ms. Baseball Parent,
    You can’t have a conversation about baseball without Ashkinazy coming up for one simple reason…..he is MR. BASEBALL!!

  4. Hey Baseball Parent- Your son must really suck and you are just that type of parent that can’t accept that your kid sucks so you have to blame Al. Believe me, walk into Al’s business any day and you’ll see, he needs nobodys pity. For the 15 or so kids that lose out on Al’s coaching, there are many one on one instructions at GBC that benefit because he stays there instead of leaving for 3 hours a day. You are just an unhappy parent that can’t face the fact that your kid is no good so BLAME IT ON AL!!
    You’ll probably now say that you don’t have a dog in the fight…BULL____!!

  5. This is to Baseball Parent- Why don’t you say your real name so people can see that you ARE a parent of a terrible baseball player!

  6. I just think it’s a shame how Grimsley’s financial support base has abandoned the school for the newer ivory towers of Northern Guilford. Everywhere I go around Greensboro all I hear about is what’s going on at Northern AND I AM GETTING VERY SICK OF HEARING ABOUT IT!!! But I guess nothing can be done about the Middle College Veritas Sports Academy at Northern Guilford!!!!

  7. hey, can somebody give me the results of the Southwest vs West Forsyth game? How did Cal do and thet rest of the Cowboys. Did the cowboys win or what? Did the cowboys hit the ball

  8. I’m pretty sure all of the schools are feeling the crunch of the current recession. However, it surprises me that Grimsley is angry because money is going to Northern. Being a Page Pirate, I know that are school is broke. We have a project including making the stadium bigger, installing a pool, and new scoreboards. However, we have no money to fund this project right now. As a matter of fact, our project is last on the priority list for Guilford County’s budget (including Grimsley’s Jamieson Stadium). From my understanding, Page is the broke school on Alma Pinnix, and Grimsley is the rich school on Westover Terrace. It’s not all peaches and cream but Grimsley at least has enough money to prevent fights and such from making it to the news. Everything that happens at Page is shown on the news and published into the News & Record. With the exception of the bathroom robbery, one would think that Grimsley is a perfect school. However, I had the opportunity (through NCCJ’s Youth Leadership Conference) to hear about what really goes on at Grimsley. The Grimsley students were talking about how their school is segregated at times and sometimes big fights occur (these don’t make the news). Given that, it seems that Grimsley is no different from Page and Grimsley like Page is falling apart. As far as finances are concerned, Grimsley should not be fussing about another school getting money because financially, Grimsley has it a whole lot better than Page and other schools in Guilford County.

  9. Face It and NW Baller, I’m back. You people are pathetic. You need to find a hobby or something. You want my name … Paul Levesque. No I do not have a kid that sucks or that was cut. I am just a baseball fan and everytime I try to read the baseball thread it always turns into a pitty party for Al or Grimsley or GBC. The man was fired, it is over. Talk about the positives in the area. George Carter, Will Myers, Ben Fultz, Cal Sutphin, Gabe Dimock, Taylor Lee, DJ Russ, Yuri Johnston, Logan Self

    Oh and Hoppersbaseball … you sure have a funny name since you used your real name. How stupid and pathetic you must be.

  10. Hey Paul do you know any Black Kids????????? that are positives.
    If so name one .
    Maybe you are one of what we call the good old boys.
    You are pathetic.

  11. CJ Beatty, Bradley Holland, Ray Crawford, Tevin Neal, AJ Williams, Alex, Jibril, Eric… does that make you happy. Those are great kids with a lousy and classless fan like you.

  12. Paul Levesque is Triple H from the WWE and he’s not back or black. Triple H is Hunter Hearst Helmsley and in real life he’s John Paul Levesque.

    Maybe we all need to start using our real names and get real about all of these issues.

    Andy Durham

  13. Oh I forgot Desean Anderson.
    Wow, we have wrestling fans as well. Then I will go with Steve Borden as my name.

  14. We had someone E-mail in here earlier today as Batista.

    I’m sure Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat can’t be very far behind on this snowy Monday.

  15. Sorry I have been away, the drive thru has been crazy all day. I have been the only one on fries all day.

    Expose me to what?

    After this post I am going to be Moondog Rex.

  16. Hey “BASEBALL PARENT” did you read does last couple of players name off a lineup card or did you goto the Dudley baseball site and write them down.Let’s face it if you don’t like what people are posting, then don’t post or read comments.Just read the articles and drop another basket of fries.I like mine with no salt so they are fresh and hot.

  17. You know… If enough baseball players at Grimsley quit or transfer, the problem parent’s kids might HAVE to play. I think I’d rather forfeit.

  18. Does anyone know what the projected lineup will be for Grimsley this year? With the changes does anybody know who the starters will be? I heard Lay Lay Brown was running track. Who’s back and who will be starting?

    When will the first game be for our local high schools? Aren’t all the regular-season games supposed to get rolling this week? I’m sure the weather will have an effect.

    Did any of the coaches have the tarps down before this rain and snow hit??????

  19. Kevin,er, I mean Paul,er, I mean Baseball Parent…nice of you to mention your kid in the group of “noteables”

  20. I agree with Baseball Parent in that we should talk about positve things. That being said, Alan Ashkinazy is Mr. Baseball!!!! There are a lot of good coaches in the area but Ashkinazy is hands down the BEST, I am POSITIVE of that.

  21. Stonecold you listen to too much Jim Rome. Er, I mean Er. Alan as Mr. Baseball is a joke. You can’t be considered a good coach if you are not coaching. What about Scott Bankhead, he should be Mr. Baseball.

  22. I’m back
    My vote goes to AL
    If you ask most of the kids in this town Who is Scott Bankhead???
    I will have to say they do not know.
    All the kids love AL. I am voting with the kids because thats what it is about?????????
    Al you are MR BASEBALL

  23. Why don’t people grow up and get a life and quite trying to call out people! I bet half of you spend all day on this Greensborosports instead of going out to look for work.

  24. And here I thought only basketball fans/parents/coaches acted like fools. Lol this is comedy!

  25. To Mr. Baseball- It’s a shame that you have to keep putting me down and I’m not even coaching your son anymore. You want me to go away, let me go away. LEAVE ME ALONE. If you don’t like my business, don’t come. I have plenty of customers without you. It would be so nice, instead of using this forum to put me down, DO IT FACE TO FACE! You know where I am. At least face to face I can defend myself. GOOD LUCK TO ALL THIS SEASON!

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